An explosion in the center of Madrid causes three deaths and ten injuries

USPA NEWS - A strong explosion that occurred shortly after noon on Wednesday in a building in the center of Madrid caused the practical destruction of the building, the death of at least three people and injured at least ten others. One person remains missing under the rubble. The explosion could be heard almost throughout the city. The emergency services were immediately activated, evacuating the residents of the neighboring houses.

At first it was thought that the affected building was a nursing home that is located a few meters from the place. However, it was soon confirmed that the elders had been evacuated and none of them were harmed. The residence was not damaged either, but the elderly were relocated to other nearby residences. The church of La Paloma, adjacent to the damaged building, was not damaged either, whose remains flew over Toledo Street in Madrid and came to rest several hundred meters from the scene of the explosion.

The three deceased are two men and one woman, supposedly the married couple living in the house where the explosion occurred, and other inhabitant of the building. A gas company technician conducting a boiler check is the missing person. The injured are other inhabitants of the building and some pedestrians who were passing through the place at the time of the explosion.

Next to the building there is also a school. No children or teachers were affected by the explosion. Police, firefighters, ambulances and Civil Protection personnel were deployed in the area of the accident, which was closed to traffic to facilitate the work of the emergency services. According to a spokesperson for these services, the accumulation of snow on the roof of the building, after the storm that covered Madrid a week ago with a white blanket and which has not yet melted due to low temperatures, contributed to quelling the fire caused by the explosion.